Shoe welt unit and method of making same



April 12, 1938. H. B. GORMAN 2,114,131

SHOE WELT UNIT AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Nov. 16, 1935 Cal Patented Apr. 12, 1938" PATENT OFFICE 2,114,131 SHOE WELT UNIT AND IVIETHOD OF MAKING SAME Henry B. Gorman, Lynchburg,

Va, assignor to Compo Shoe Machinery Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application l lovember 16, 1935, Serial No. 50,070 11 Claims. (01. 12-146) This inventionrelates to the manufacture of welted shoes, and more particularly to the provision of a welt unit which is especially useful in the manufacture of certain types of such shoes.

In my copending application, Serial No. 38,685, filed August 31, 1935, there is disclosed and claimed a novel method and shoe. In a preferred mode of practicing such method, a welt is attached to a fastening strip to form a welt unit which is attached around the margin of an outsole so that the fastening strip may thereafter be cemented and pressed against the bottom of a lasted shoe upper. The present application is a continuation in part of such copending application, and general objects of the present invention are to provide a welt unit and a method of making the same, such unit being designed and adapted for use in such a shoe.

More particularly, an object of the invention is to provide apreformed welt unit which is adapted to be stitched to an outer sole in position thereafter to be cemented to the bottom of a lasted upper.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly d'imprises the several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others, and the article possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements, which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary bottom view of a shoe constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention, most of the outer sole being broken away better to illustrate the interior construction;

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken through a welt unit used in constructing the present shoe;

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the welt unit of Fig. 2 showing a further stage in its preparation;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical sectional view taken through the toe portion of an outsole having the welt unit attached thereto Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along line 55 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical sectional view similar to Fig. 2, but showing a modifled'form of welting; and

Fig. 'I is a transverse vertical sectional view of the welt unit of Fig. 6 showing a further stage in its preparation.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, there is provided a welt strip 10 (Fig. 2) of leather or the like, which may comprise conventional welting of any suitable type heretofore used in the manufacture of mens, women's or childrens welt shoes. To this welt strip there is attached a fastening strip H by means of stitching I2. The fastening strip is preferably made of a strong, specially woven textile tape or webbing, although any other suitable fabric or light leather may be used if desired. In assembling the fastening strip with the welt, the strip is first doubled as shown in Fig. 2, with its doubled edge overlying the inner edge of the welt strip, with both of its doubled folds extending outwardly above the welt strip. The stitching l2 passes through both folds of the fastening strip near its fold line or crease, and also passes through the welt adjacent its inner edge. This forms a composite welt unit which may be made up in suitable lengths so as to have sections cut off for use in an individual shoe.

The fastening strip H is adapted subsequently to be cemented to a lasted upper, and to this end it may, if desired, be impregnated with a suitable adhesive such as pyroxylin or other cellulose derivative cement, latex cement, or the like. It is preferred, however, to apply a coating of such cement to the fastening strip ll after its attachment to the welt, the strip being undoubled as cement to both folds thereof. It will be noted that when the strip is thus undoubled by bending back the upper fold thereof and pulling it inwardly, the doubled strip material confined by 'the stitching l2 in effect forms a small downwardly extending rib or'lip l3, to which the welt I0 is sewed and which is located along the inner welt edge. This provides upwardly facing surfaces on the fabric strip on either side of the stitching 12, one cement face comprising the lower fold of the strip and extending outwardly from the stitching or inseam I2, and the other comprising theupper fold of such strip which extends inwardly beyond the inner edge of the welting. The application ofcement to the surfaces of the fastening strip at this stage of manufacture is optional, since the adhesive may also be applied later just prior to the attachment of the welt to the upper, or cement may be applied 35 shown in Fig. 3 to permit the application of to the upper and an untreated fastening strip may be pressed thereagainst. When the strip is precoated, or pre-impregnated with pyroxylin cement, this is allowed to dry and is subsequently reactivated by means of a suitable solvent or other cement just prior to the affixing operation which is hereinafter described.

The welt unit is next attached around the marginal edge of a rounded outsole i4, preferably by means of stitching i5, although any suitable cement may be used to join the welt l0 and the outsole l4, if desired. This outsole may be of leather, rubber, composition, or the like. An important feature of the present invention is that these various types of outsoles may be attached to the bottom of a lasted upper by means of cement, which may be relied on to form a firm bond between the fabric strip ii and the bottom of the shoe. Thus, even inexpensive sole leathers, such as belly leather, can successfully be cement attached to a shoe bottom by means of the present welt unit. Heretofore such leathers could not successfully be utilized in making cemented shoes because their loose, fibrous structure would not withstand the necessary roughing operations used in connection with cementing and still afford a strong cemented bond. It has also been impractical heretofore to attempt to cement rubber and various composition soles directly to the bottoms of leather shoes, since a good bond could not be obtained between such materials and the upper leather without resorting to unduly expensive methods.

The welt unit is preferably run entirely around the forward portion of the outsole, and may be extended from the heel breast line on one side of the sole completely therearound to the heel breast line on the other side, the welt butts having the same location that they have in a conventional welt shoe. If desired, the welt may run entirely around the heel portion.

In cases where the welt it is of sufiicient thickness to make it desirable, filler material it is next located on the outsole within the attached welt unit. This filler material preferably is in the form of a dinked out blank of material such as Once or other like fibrous material, and this blank preferably occupies the forepart portion of the outsole extending rearwardly to the ball line.

A lasted upper is provided, preferably comprising an upper i?! having its lasting allowance it lasted in fiat overlying relation against an insole l to which it is affixed by means of pyroxylin cement or the like. McKay stitched or stapled uppers also may be used if desired, and in fact, any form of upper providing a suitable bottom surface for attachment of the fabric fastening strip is contemplated as coming within the purview of the present invention. After lasting, the upper is trimmed, roughed and preferably precoated with pyroxylin cement in accordance with any suitable or conventional methods heretofore used in the production of cemented shoes. This coating of cement is preferably permitted to dry, subject to later reactivation just prior to the attachment of the fastening strip ii thereto.

If the thickness of the materials used makes it expedient, further filler material 20 may be packed in the central forepartportion of the lasted upper. It should be understood that the thicknesses of the materials indicated in the present illustrative drawing are considerably exaggerated and that the spaces indicated as being occupied by fillers i6 and 20 in actual practice are not so large as they appear to be in the drawing, and that where the welt i0 and upper II are not unduly thick, very good results can be obtained without using any filler at l6 or 20; or alternatively, one of these fillers may be used and the other dispensed with.

Assuming that a lasted upper has been provided and suitably packed with filler 20, the shoe is now ready for application of the outsole M. This is done by a simple cement aflixing operation wherein the bottom of the upper and/or the fabric fastening strip H is coated with adhesive or has its previous adhesive coating activated. The welt equipped outsole is then located with respect to the upper and this assembly is placed in a suitable sole affixing press having a pressure pad or other like means adapted to urge and hold the outsole and its attached fastening strip ii against the bottom of the lasted upper and this pressure is maintained until the adhesive bond indicated at 2i (Fig. 5) is set. If desired, at any time prior to pressing, the fastening strip can be slashed at the toe or like sharply curved portions better to enable it to lie flatly and snugly against the bottom of the lasted upper.

There is thus provided a shoe wherein the outsole is attached to a welt and the welt is sewed to a lip or rib ii on the upper, but in which such lip or rib, with its previously associated welt and sole, is easily and effectively applied by a series of relatively simple operations including the described cementing step.

It is also contemplated that the welt unit may be attached to the upper prior to the afiflxing of the outsole i i thereto by first cementing or sewing the fastening strip ii to the bottom of the lasted upper and thereafter sewing or cementing the outsole to the welt. The first described operation is preferred, however, since it provides an easy and efiective way of attaching the fastening strip to the bottom of the upper by means of conventional cement sole affixing equipment and does not necessitate a special pressing operation for pre-attaching the welt unit to the upper before the outsole is applied.

In Figs. 6 and 7 a welt unit is shown which is generally similar to that described above, except that the inner edge of the welt W is bevelled as at iii". The fabric fastening strip ii is doubled along a fold line and this fold line is positioned inwardly over the bevelled surface ill", both folds of the strip being extended outwardly over the top of the welt. The inseam stitching i2 passes through the inner edge of the welt at or slightly outwardly from the bevelled welt surface, and passes through both folds of the doubled fastening strip somewhat outwardly from its extreme folded edge. When the strip, thus sewed, is undoubled as shown in Fig. 7, it will be seen that the doubled portion confined by the stitching i2 is pulled downwardly in the form of an attaching rib which rests snugly against and is accommodated in the space provided by the bevelled surface iii", thus avoiding undue downward distortion of the inner edge portion of the welt strip and providing a better fit against the flush surface of the flat outsole to which it is subsequently attached. It will be noted that applicants combination and relation of the fastening strip with such a bevelled welt (which may be of conventional form) is especially useful for his intended purpose. This welt unit is adapted to be assembled with the outsole and thereafter cemented to the upper in the same manner as the previously described form.

ane,

By attaching the outsole in this manner there is provided a construction having marked advantages over previously used welted shoe con structions as to ease and economy of assembly. The present shoe also possesses some advantages as compared with conventional cemented shoes in that it is practically impossible to peel-the cemented bond between the fastening strip ii, and the bottom of the upper. That is, any kicking or scnfing action which happens to bend down the outsole and welt can only act to sepa= rate the welt from the fastening strip ll back as far as the stitching i2, and any further down ward bending force applied to the edge of the outsoie will not have a peeling action tending to separate the strip ii from the upper. Instead, such force will be applied laterally across the entire cement send at 2B, comprising the folds of the fastening strip which extend both inwardly and outwardly irom the line of stitching where the separating force is applied.

Since certain changes in carrying out the above method, and certain modifications in the article which embody the invention may be made without departing from its scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting It is also to understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might are said to fail therehetween.

Eating described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is:

i. ii welt unit adapted for cement attachment to a shoe, comprising a grain leather welt, a fabric fastening strip sewed to said welt and ex= tending inwardly beyond its inner edge to provide a cementing surface, and a coating of cement on the side of said strip corresponding to the grain side of said welt adapted to engage and adhere to the bottom of a shoe.

2. A welt unit adapted for cement attachment to a shoe, comprising a leather welt, a fabric fastening strip, stitching joining an intermediate portion of said strip with the inner edge of said bevelled portion.

5. A welt unit adapted for cement attachment to ashoe, comprising a welt having a bevelled inner edge, a fabric fastening strip doubled to provide a doubled fold overhanging said bevelled edge, and stitching joining both folds of said strip to said welt along the inner margin of its 6. A welt unit adaptedfor cement attachment to a shoe, comprising a welt having a bevelled inner edge, a fabric fastening strip having a doubled fold therein providing a downwardly extending rib occupying the space provided by said bevelled welt edge, and stitching joining the inner margin of said welt and said rib.

l. A welt unit adapted for attachment to, a

shoe, comprising a welt, a doubled fabric strip extending lengthwise of said welt with its doubled edge adjacent the inner edge of'said welt, and stitching connecting said welt and both folds of said strip, one ofsuch folds extending inwardly and the otheroutwardiy from such stitching.

8. A welt unit adapted for attachment to a shoe, comprising a welt, a fabric strip doubled along a fold line, and stitching connecting one edge of said well; with both. folds of said strip adjacent said iolol line, one of such folds extending inwardly and the other outwardly from such stitching.

9. A welt unit adapted for cement attachment to a shoe, comprising a grain leather welt, a fastening strip extending lengthwise or" said welt, a coating of dried pyroxylin cement on said strip, and stitching connecting said welt and strip with the coated surface of the latter facing upwardly in the same direction as the grain side of the welt. 1

iii. A welt unit adapted for'cement attachment to a shoe, comprising a grain leather welt, a pyroxylin cement impregnated fabric strip extending lengthwise and inwardly of said welt, and stitching connecting said strip along the inner edge of the grain side of said welt.

11. A method of making a welt unit for cement attachment to a shoe, which comprises,

doubling a fabric strip along a fold line, positioning said strip along the upper side of a welt with its folded edge overlying the inner margin of said welt and with its folds extending toward the outer welt edge, stitching the inner welt margln to both folds of said welt close to said fold line, and undoubling the uppermost fold to form a downwardly extending fabric rib adjacent the inner edge of said welt and to provide a cementing surface extending inwardly beyond such edge.

HENRY B. 

